'68 Plumb Sinister Coronet 440

[YoungGun87]

got with our engine builder yesterday and ordered the rest of the parts for our 440 going 30 over, will itemize the invoice once they arrive - probably going to have 5k just in parts/labor of having the engine built
looking to be around 550-600hp while keeping it streetable and reliable
decided to clean up our original heater mech today, turned out better than i thought with less pitting so that will be going back in the car
there's some black paint missing off the face that i will probably end up respraying then using the pencil eraser trick to remove from the lettering so those are chrome again
only reason i even bought another heater mech was for the middle slider knob which turns out is made different from the coronet models but will work
the coronets had a 2 piece knob that actually screws in from the top of the piece that slides in the grooves and the other ones are all a one piece part

 

[YoungGun87]

almost had a bad day lol
got our bellhousing today with cast #2843234 which is '67 although wanted the #2892262 specific for '68 year
brewers says the '67 2843234 housing has a 4.354" bearing retainer diameter and the '68 2892262 has a 4.805" bearing retainer diameter
however, the guy we ordered this housing from says he spoke with an expert and said it was a very rare later '67 production housing that was made for the early '68 models and it mated up fine to our trans
$700 mistake has been averted lmao

 

[YoungGun87]

started tearing down the original column for resto - was a column shift 3/s auto - going to 4/s on floor
wheel puller didn't quite fit so picking up a different one tomorrow
waiting on complete disassembly to see what all i need to get
after plenty of searching here, there, and everywhere it seems i am going to need the coil spring that goes on the outer tube at the bottom after cutting the shift arm off
i'll figure it out

 

[YoungGun87]

it has arrived, finally!
dad seems to think the grips are repops but with that wear they appear original to me (it's what it was advertised as -'70 box, slip in style restored and triple chromed)

picked up the correct mounting hardware for the shift box to plate and tabs to trans nuts at the local mom&pop hardware store for a whole $3
rented a proper wheel puller this am and popped off the wheel
t-storms all day and no sleep last night so being a lazy sob the rest of today

 

[YoungGun87]

got the column tore down all the way
figured i'd help out a little as i've searched many threads upon discovering my sheer pins were broke on the steering shaft
thanks to @hunt2elk in post #4 in figuring out the necessary length of 41.5" for a power steering shaft in the following link

1969 steering column shaft length manual steering

Hello everyone I am needing to know the correct over all length for a manual steering 69 roadrunner 4speed steering column shaft? Will a shaft out of a 1970 manual steering floor shift work? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

www.forbbodiesonly.com

and another thanks to @LowBikeMike for highlighting the difference that some shafts had holes all the way through and some had grooves that lined up with holes which are very hard to see but after knowing the length you can get it close then use a pick to feel the very slight edges of the groove that are probably no more than a mm in depth(probably stamped in) post#4 in this link

Steering column fitment

I’m looking at changing out my stock automatic steering column on my 69 super bee for a stock 4 speed 69 Roadrunner column I came across. Does anyone know if I will have any fitment issues or if it should just bolt right up? Neither car have power brakes or power steering.

www.forbbodiesonly.com

and as always a thanks to @dadsbee on his resto threads, dude deserves some kind of medal for that one
couple more column threads that have helped

Don's 1969 Charger Restoration

Great job as usual Don! Your thread inspired me to go in as deep as I did on my car! Oooo sorry?? Well done Don! Thanks Very nice work! Thank you sir! Holy smokes Don. And I thought I was being **** when I put my cars together, but you are kicking my butt. Pretty low percentage of these...

www.forbbodiesonly.com

For the Love for my Father, My 69 GTX Restoration

Front lower gravel pan installed. I was told by Frank Badalson that these are painted in flat black. The finish on my original was gone just remnants where the outer end attached to the bumper brackets. It appeared to to be flat black. I have also seen others state they were semi gloss. I...

www.forbbodiesonly.com

3 out of 4 sheer pins completely gone, will melt out the other one

setting correct length on power steering shaft

using a pick, you can "feel" the grooves' edges - should be two edges for each hole


now the only thing i think i'm lacking as far as parts is the big lower spring for the inner tube and the spring washer at the top which were never on/in my column
the piece with the arrow is what i believe the spring washer sits on to keep pressure on the lower housing?

now i just need to clean everything up, get the right paint, and assemble if i ever manage to track down that big spring and washer
thanks again for everyone who documented their stuff, it's been a huge help and i don't have deep pockets at all so i do what i can when i can

 

[YoungGun87]

got a few goodies in
trip to the machinist coming monday

 

[YoungGun87]

NSS mount cut off
wire brushed to bare metal
fabbed and welded in a piece to cover the auto shift lever slot
ordered a 3.5gal bucket of evaporust from oreilly's on tuesday that was supposed to be in the next morning(yesterday) and they messed up by not having it so they let me get the 5gal bucket for the same price since i had to wait until this morning to pick up which was pretty cool
steering shaft soaking in e-rust overnight, then shift tube, and finally the outer sleeve and will be ready for self etch prime/paint
still unsure if i really need the lower spring and upper spring washer so just going to put back together without them because it seems they're unobtanium
dash wire brushed to bare metal and in self etching primer, didn't grab primer pic
grabbed some shots of the number stampings as well

 

[YoungGun87]

feels good getting paint on parts
steering shaft cleaned up nice after soaking about 12 hours in evaporust, got some clear epoxy in the sheer pin holes and will shave down after 24 hour cure
using trim and bumper paint for main column and 2x gloss for mounting plates after priming with rustoleum self etching
started raining so dash and column housings have to wait until tomorrow
taped off the face of the heater mech and cut out the painted area with a razor blade to hit with 2 quick wet coats of 2x satin
used a razor blade to lightly scrape the paint off the lettering a couple minutes after being sprayed

 

[YoungGun87]

didn't really care for the black trim & bumper paint; too shiny
re-blocked with 220 then shot 2 coats of 2x flat black
waiting on the rustoleum textured paint to get here to give it that oem texture look
turned out fairly decent for rattle can imo
other than that, just evaporusting small **** and sorting all the original hardware (remind me to never buy another damn basket case project) - bare metal parts get coated with rpm

 

[YoungGun87]

column back together for the most part
disassembled turn sig. switch after evaporusting just the switch end, cleaned it all up, and put fresh dielectric grease on the contacts
all oem hardware was evaporusted clean
gave the texture paint about a day+ to cure before assembling
edit: realized the switch retainer plate was flipped the wrong way, fixed now.


you can see why i decided against the trim&bumper paint and went with the rustoleum textured
still not sure if i should leave the front as is or give it the same treatment as the top


then the steering wheel
pretty nice with no cracks other than it looks like someone glued a cover to it back in the day
any tips on removing the old residue appreciated if any - sanding probably best option



got a nice NOS horn switch to go in from a member on site when i get to that stage

 

[YoungGun87]

well i got the rear rotors evaporusted and rpm'd all the non-contact areas
found out the leaf springs were indeed bought new in '06 when the resto shop had it


i think i'm starting to see why the guy most likely fired the resto shop and pulled his car leaving it unfinished
a bunch of little **** that i've noticed since we had it has been adding up like the firewall being painted but not putting the damn wire harness or brake line clips back on first(which were missing and i paid 60 bucks to get btw and the dash clip turned out to be broke in the same spot mine is so that's a wash), the holes for the fuel line in the trunk were never drilled out when they replaced it(if someone knows the sizes i need to drill for those holes i sure could use that info, locations i can figure out with photos), the wire harness covers on the interior that i still need to buy and weld in were gone but spot welded tabs still left in place, driver's side vent window pivot track has a broken pivot stud, bucket seat reinforcement plates were never welded in before painting the undercarriage which i still have to buy and do, the new white seat covers that they bought are a gtx/satellite pattern instead of coronet, then the new strange dana 60 that was professionally shortened to fit the fat *** tires we'll be running is missing the vent hole which i guess they cut off when shortening so i'll need to re-tap that out. which brings me to my next point about the shortened dana - our brand new factory correct brake line kit from in-line will need to be shortened to fit the axle and re-flared.

but here's the latest thing i found out today while crawling around under the rear - anybody notice anything that shouldn't be the way it is but it is?
fun times ahead.

 

[YoungGun87]

just got our wiper motor back today
topher did an awesome job

 

[YoungGun87]

been tackling some more minor stuff
finally acquired a 68-69 b body pedal assembly out of a coronet
these were the condition before evaporusting


shots of the pedals after a dip showing original factory overspray pattern instead of a hard line like many restored ones which i will try to recreate


brackets and hardware left in bare metal and coated with rpm after a 2 or 3 day soak in evaporust because weather has been in low 60's the past few days due to the hurricane and evaporust doesn't like to work below 75 degrees F
waiting on the bearing rebuild kit from brewers i ordered last night and some semi-gloss black paint before reassembly


got our rear brake line vent bolt tapped today and installed the splitter block
if anyone else is doing this, i marked a center line about 1-7/8 from the edge of the center axle housing toward the driver side wheel and then eyed the front to back mark
use a punch to make your divot then make a pilot hole with small sized drill bit
the final bit size you want to use is a 25/64 then use a 7/16-20 tap and take your time, you don't want to screw this part up
only used 1 layer of plumber's tape on the vent bolt threads and it went in tight, you'll probably need to slowly tighten and slightly back it off like you do the tap to prevent stripping anything

 

[YoungGun87]

got the driver's side brake line from inline tubes ran and clipped in place the other day


that's when we noticed this little snag (another issue with picking up from someone else's left off build)
the e-brake line doesn't attach to the mechanism on the inside like stock ones so we're having to source an adapter that fords use to attach from the stock style lines and then clip over that ear

 

[YoungGun87]

pedals pretty much done, still need to order a new overcenter spring and spring pin to make it complete
evaporusted, media blasted, wire brushed, and coated all the bare metal/hardware areas with rpm then shot with self-etching primer but only on the area that was getting the 2x satin black - i think i nailed the factory overspray look
all new bearing kit from brewers and new pads

 

[YoungGun87]

just been doing small stuff - restored our switch panel - bead blasted to bare metal, self etch primed, then shot in satin hammered black then used rustoleum 2x satin white on the letters by spraying a little on a napkin and using the eraser on a #2 pencil to dab in it then on the letters
got to dab the letters several times to get good coverage and a vivid white - helps to let the paint tack up a bit on the napkin


working on restoring/refurbishing/repairing a heater box that was correct for 1970 - had several cracks I repaired using high strength plastic epoxy and will be selling this one - will have a brand new DMT seal kit, all metal stripped bare, primed, and shot with seymour's stainless steel paint - the panel with the stamp and resistor gets satin black and I'll most likely be getting stamps made for the 68, 69, and 70 boxes so they'll be nicely and correctly restored
will also be repairing and restoring the original 68 box from our car that also has a few cracks and just bought another one correct for 68-69 that appeared and was said to have none in the plastic housing that I'll be restoring and keeping for our car.
waiting on a call, probably this weekend, to meet a guy up in TN who's going to buy all my parts I have for sale so I can buy the seal kits and heater cores needed to go in all this stuff.



just scored this very nice original black lower dash pad and glove box lid that's going on our dash too so we don't have to paint ours - lucked up and ran across it after only be listed for a couple hours
it's too bad I don't have a couple hundred grand in the bank or I'd be moving along at a much faster pace.

 

[YoungGun87]

went and picked up our block, crank, rods, heads, pistons from the machinist today - they did an excellent job
i was mistaken in my initial post regarding the block, it's actually a '73 cast block not a '78
it had 6 pack rods in it so i'm assuming it was an original 6 pack block

 

[YoungGun87]

anybody seen a 1340 stamp under the main stamp number before? blower motor says made in canada which was tested and works so maybe it's a canuck thing?
custom made stamps are close but not perfect - got the mega seal kit from dmt in, just waiting on ordering a correct 70 only heater core from oer as that's what this box is originally, tested the original one but it leaked
this one will be going up for sale when it's done